The Fourth Wall
by bigger-on-the-inside-fandoms
Summary: ***WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE MANGA IF YOU ARE NOT CAUGHT UP YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED*** After having to leave the confinement of the Walls Rose and Shina, Eren Jaeger and the rest of the Survey Corps travel to the Wall Maria to escape the King, the titans, and find out what is in the basement. But when they cross Wall Maria, they find a fourth wall on the other side.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Eren knew Levi had told him to stay inside. He knew Armin had told him the same. He knew that he still had enemies in the Military Police. But the barracks were as suffocating as living inside the walls. Sure, he liked reading with Armin, but sometimes he just had to go out and do things for himself.

He looked around him as people in clean, expensive clothing strolled down the street looking at pretty things that cost enough money feed his whole family in Siganshina for a month. He grit his teeth so he wouldn't humiliate himself in front of everyone and get found out. This system was more corrupted then he had ever imagined. A patrol of Military Police strolled by, chatting amongst themselves. Those weak, lazy bastards. Eren felt his teeth vibrating in his cheeks from gritting them too hard.

"Hey kid," said one.

"Aren't you old enough to be in the Military?" put in another.

Eren glared back at them.

"Hey, what do you think his deal is?" said the one nearest to Eren to his comrades.

"Dunno. Hey, kid, what's your problem?"

"All you fucking do here is sit on your asses all day and gossip around the city! You were the ones who were best able to defend humanity, but you get to sit here eating our food, you fucking parasites! You're the ones who will probably never see a titan, but you're also the ones who were most likely to survive it!" Now that he had started Eren couldn't stop. "How can you live with yourselves, you fucking scum?! How can you…"

The first kick hit him in the gut. It hurt. He doubled over, clutching his stomach. He couldn't let them beat him like this. When the next one came at him, he was ready. The Military Police woman threw a punch at his face, but he dodged and pushed her in the direction she was going. She fell to the ground. He would use Annie's fighting techniques on them even if she _had_ joined them. He tripped the next one., sending him sprawling on the street. The rest stared at him for a second.

"Dude, that's Jaeger!" shouted one of them as Eren reached up to wipe the sweat off his upper lip.

The second one nodded at the first one. They slowly advanced to where Eren stood near the wall. Maybe if he made them think it wasn't a good idea to come near they would go away. After all, they were weak cowards. They hesitated.

"What are you doing?!" the one on the left demanded.

"No, sir, I do not bite my thumb at you, sir, but I bite my thumb, sir," Eren had no idea why he was saying this; it just sort of spilled out of his mouth. It was from a book he and Armin had been reading the other day. Romeo and Juliet. One of the books that had been banned.

"Maybe we won't arrest you now, but we will report this to the King," said one of the people in the Military Police squad as they retreated.

Eren decided his best choice was to go back to his barracks. As he walked through the door, he heard a cannon shot near the wall.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Eren," Commander Erwin Smith stopped him as he walked to dinner. "Is it true that you went outside and turned into a titan and broke a hole through the wall?"

Eren blinked at him. "What?! No! I didn't do anything! Well, I did go outside, but I didn't turn into a titan."

"We've gotten reports of you threatening a squad of Military Police then breaking a hole in the wall before they managed to shoot you with a cannon."

Eren told Erwin what had really happened earlier that day. "So my guess is that they shot the cannon at the wall."

"Well they've done things like this before, and I don't know why Eren would want to break a hole through the wall. I can think of plenty of reasons why the Military Police would want Eren executed. They see Eren as a threat instead of an asset and a fascinating anomaly –" said Hanji.

"Thank you, Hanji," said Erwin, interrupting Hanji, who had come up behind them.

"Whether Eren was the one who broke the hole through the wall or not, the Military Police are pressing charges. They have even more reason to claim that you are a threat to humanity than ever."

"Is there a trial again?" Eren wondered, thinking back to the trial after the Battle at Trost. He hadn't liked any of it, and getting kicked in the face by Levi had been the least of his problems.

"It's tomorrow morning," said Erwin. "They aren't giving us that much time."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

That morning, Eren had found some fancy civilian clothes and put them on. They were stiff. It was weird that they could be stiffer than his uniform with the full-body belt that he had been wearing for years. He tried to tie the tie several times before he realized he had no idea how it got in that neat, little knot with both ends pointed downwards. When he asked Armin and Connie, they both said they didn't know how either and that he should ask Jean. Jean would probably know, but Eren really didn't want to admit to him that he didn't know something Jean did. It was almost as bad as when Eren's belt was damaged so he couldn't balance in the straps. Maybe Mikasa would know. He asked all three girls to no avail. He tried Levi next, and instead of tying the tie, Levi gave him a cravat. It was ruffly, and felt awkward sitting on his chest, but it would have to do.

The trial was starting. This time, Eren, handcuffed to a desk instead of tied to a pole, was in the middle of a circle of people, all watching him. He squirmed in his seat, nervous and stiff in his suit. His accusers went first. Their story matched what happened until the part where they started beating him up. At that point, they claimed that he had immediately gone titan, and punched a hole in the wall. The hole in the wall that was there from the cannon.

Eren told his story his best from what he could remember. He knew it had been a mistake to talk shit about the government, but that's what he had done and he knew it hadn't been a good idea. Several witnesses were called forth, probably paid to tell the Military Police's version.

"I was just doing my shopping when suddenly on the other side of a building there was a titan."

"It swung its body around and punched a hole in the wall!"

"Everyone, who was nearby is lucky to be alive after that monster attacked!"

Eren couldn't believe nobody believed him.

In the end, it was decided that Eren was guilty of treason and he would hang in three days. Levi, Hanji, Mikasa, Sasha, Connie, Jean, and Armin would also be hung on the same day for supposedly being his accomplices.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Today was the day. They would be hanged at noon. Armin had come up with a plan, of course, but even he said it wasn't a very good one. But it was the only chance they had. Between their time in the Siganshina district and in the Trainee Corps, all of them had witnessed several hangings, so for the most part they knew what was coming.

The Military Police led them out and lined them up and put sacks over their heads. Eren was in front, with Jean directly behind him. Jean was unusually quiet today, probably thinking about Marco. He probably knew all was lost if the Military Police tied their wrists in the back. They tied ropes around their wrists in the front. This still might work.

They were marched out and around so many curves that Eren was completely lost. They marched him up on what could only be the platform under the gallows. He heard the clatter of feet coming up behind him. He was stood up on a stool and a rope was put around his neck. Eren could hear them walking around, presumably setting up the rest of his friends. Now, if he was going to die, Eren considered Jean his friend. Jean had disguised himself as Eren several times, and Eren had never thanked him.

He felt his stool jerk as one of the Military Police officers tried to kick it from under him. He reached his hands up and found the rope behind his head. He swung his legs upwards, accidently making contact with someone's jaw. He hooked his feet around the support his rope was hanging from and clambered onto the top. He ripped the sack and the noose off his head. Sasha and Connie were already untying each other's wrists. Next to him Jean was walking down the plank so they could do the same. Eren untied Jean's wrists as Jean did the same for Eren. The four of them ran off the gallows and pushed their way through the crowd. Hopefully the others had made it out safely, too.

They had agreed to meet near the gate. Armin was already waiting for them. Mikasa, Levi, and Hanji were hopefully stealing enough swords to take down whoever was guarding the gate. The five of them pressed themselves against a wall around the corner of a building. Sasha's stomach rumbled.

"Sorry," she mouthed.

Mikasa, Levi, and Hanji barreled around the corner, arms full of swords.

"Will this be enough?" asked Hanji.

"I-it's plenty," said Armin. "If anything, it's too many."

Each of them pulled two of the biggest swords out. They crept up to where the Military Police chatted next to the gate. Levi and Mikasa pressed the tips of the swords against their backs.

"Open the gate," ordered Levi.

The one behind Levi's sword squeaked, and complied. The other helped. The gate slid slowly upwards so they had just enough room to walk under it. Levi and Mikasa were last, and had to roll under the quickly closing gate. It shut just as Levi got up and started running. As a pack they started on the long hike across the farmland between Wall Shina and Wall Rose.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

They walked across the interior of Wall Rose until nightfall. Luckily, it was early autumn, and they were passing an apple orchard at sunset. Sasha had been picking up food all day long and eating it as she went, but the others hadn't had anything since before the hanging. They had apples for dinner and went to sleep under the tree, taking turns at watch.

When Mikasa woke Eren up for last watch, the stars were beginning to disappear. He could still make out Polaris, the North Star, in the direction they were going in the morning. He needed to wake himself up. With Mikasa already sleeping, he knew he didn't stand a chance if he was half asleep. He got up and practiced some moves with the swords, something he hadn't done since he was still in training. He ate an apple. He was starting to get sick of apples. The sky was getting a pink tinge around the edges.

As a bright light started to splinter over the distant wall, Eren knew it was time to wake the others up. He reached over and shook Armin. Armin groaned, but strained his eyes open.

"Sun's up?" he asked groggily.

"Yeah," answered Eren. "Can you help get the others up?"

Together, they shook the others awake. They all had more apples for breakfast. All of them were grumpy; Levi especially because he had slept on the ground all night. Sasha was hungry and there wasn't any substantial food around. Hanji wanted to get a pet titan. Both Eren and Jean were near each other. Armin was stressing that his plan wouldn't work. Mikasa was worried that Eren wouldn't make it and she wouldn't be able to save him. Out of all of them, Connie was the happiest. Like the rest, he was worried that some of them wouldn't make it out, but at the same time he knew and trusted the others. He knew it would take a lot to kill any of them. They picked up their swords and walked across the wide expanse of farmland.

Around mid-afternoon, they had made it to the Karanese District. There was a crank to open the gates for the farmers shipping food into the district. Connie cranked the door up just enough for everyone to walk in. The Stationary Troops looked down at them and gave them a friendly hello. Obviously word hadn't come this far yet. Anka Rheinberger greeted them just inside the gate.

"Captain Levi! What brings you to the Karanese District?"

"We need to get to HQ," Armin butted in.

"Yes we do," clarified Levi, remembering the plan. "We need 3DMG and horses for an expedition outside the walls. The only way we can beat these titans is if we find out what is in that basement."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

As they got to HQ, Levi got happier. He was still his usual self, but at least now he wasn't grumbling about "all that fucking dirt." He was probably excited for a bath.

"First everyone needs to take a bath, and then find a suitable horse, new 3DMG, and dinner. Then we can spend the night here before heading out first thing in the morning," ordered Levi.

"Heichou," Armin put in. "If we spend too much time here the Military Police might catch up with us. Also, most of the titans are inactive at night, so it might be a better idea to leave tonight."

Eren could tell Levi had been looking forward to sleeping in a clean bed, but he didn't object. He seemed to realize that Armin was right and he'd rather get a little dirty than get eaten by a titan.

"Everyone will take a bath, dinner, a horse, and new 3DMG," revised Levi.

After his bath and dinner, Eren decided to look at what his options were for 3DMG. He chose some that was about the same size as his old ones. When he tried them on, they felt a little weird, but not altogether bad. He refilled the gas and put it on. Luckily he had gotten rid of that horribly stiff suit after his bath.

He went to the stables and picked out a dark brown horse with a lighter brown mane. He nicknamed it Jean. He gave Jean some hay while tacking up. He led Jean outside where he met with the others.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Connie had gotten Sasha a horse because she was still eating dinner. She ran out, still buckling her 3DMG and chewing something. Everyone mounted their horses, and they set out into the darkening twilight. They didn't dare light torches for fear of possible active titans or Military Police finding them. If titans came, they would be able to feel the footsteps anyway. There weren't enough of them to form the formation they had used on the 57th expedition from Karanese, when they found Annie in her titan form. Armin had suggested just riding near each other so everyone would be able to hear everything that was going on. They couldn't use smoke flares in the dark. They would ride in the direction of Siganshina. Maybe there, if they could find out what was in the basement, they could go back safely. If the government had banned talking about the outside, there must be something to hide. They rode at a brisk walk so they could hear any approaching titans. Nobody spoke.

A sound like thunder rumbled from somewhere to their right. A titan. The horses got skittish. Without a word they adjusted their course a little to the left. The titan kept on their right flank. They sped up to a gallop. Looking behind him, Eren could just make out its grinning teeth as it crawled towards them on all fours. They would have to do something about it. Mikasa, in the back, jumped off her horse and easily slashed the titan's neck. The titan came crashing to the ground behind them. Mikasa re-mounted her horse and kept riding. Now that a titan had found them, there was a better chance that others would too. If they had gone too far to the left, they would end up in the Toridasu District instead of Siganshina.

Hanji tried to check a compass, but couldn't see well enough to make out the needle under the cloudy sky. No moon, no stars. Just black. They had no way of knowing if they were going in the right direction. The silhouettes of giant trees loomed in front of them. It would be even darker in there. It would be best to go around.

"We're circling around on the left," ordered Levi, his voice oddly loud over the silence. Eren became acutely aware of the hoof beats of the horses.

"We probably need to adjust our course back to the right or we'll end up in Toridasu," Connie put in.

"Levi probably wants to stop for the night somewhere safe so we can be rested tomorrow. If we make it to Toridasu, I don't think the titans got in there. There might even be people living there. Then we can walk along the wall to Siganshina," explained Armin.

They circled the forest to the left. Eren noticed a sleeping titan on the edge, and adjusted his position to block Hanji's view. He and Levi exchanged a relieved look when she didn't see it.

They arrived at the wall a while later. The trees grew right up to it, trying to rip it up from the ground. Levi used his 3DMG to climb up the tree onto the wall. The others watched him as he looked for the district. He flew down and they started riding.

It was barely a minute before they made it to the gate. The ropes to take it up were slimy and rotted. They broke when Sasha pulled on them. The gate, made of bricks, was starting to fall into disrepair without the Stationary Troops keeping it in good shape. The rest of the wall, made of the titans hardening thing, was still good as new. If there were people behind the wall, the titans would have broken down the gate already.

"Eren, can you break a hole through the gate?" asked Hanji.

"I think so," said Eren. "If I can go titan. It hasn't exactly been working lately." He raised his thumb to his mouth and bit down. He needed to break down the gate. He felt the warm, metallic taste of blood filling his mouth. He bit down again until his teeth wouldn't go down further. He bit down to the bone. He sucked on his thumb where he had bitten to make it feel better. He bit down again. Blood smeared around his mouth.

"Eren," said Mikasa. "You need to stop. It's not working. We'll need to leave the horses here so we can climb over. There's no use saving them."

Mikasa was right. They couldn't take the horses if Eren couldn't break down the gate. Eren let Armin bandage his hand.

Everyone let their horses go, and then flew over the wall with their 3DMG.

Eren was the last to go. "Goodbye Jean," he whispered, patting his horse on the nose.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

On the base of the wall, the group had fallen asleep the night before, exhausted from a long day of running from the Military Police and titans. Eren's thumb was throbbing. He unwrapped the bandage and looked at the wound. It was red and swelling and still bleeding a little. He probably needed to get stitches. Armin saw him looking at his thumb, and found another bandage. It wouldn't heal properly without cleaning and stitches, but for now this would have to do. It was only now that Eren noticed the smell. It was like when he was living with Armin and Mikasa inside Wall Rose and he had found a pile of meat swimming in flies. After looking at the skull for a minute or so, Armin decided it was someone who hadn't gotten enough food. Looking at the arms and legs, Mikasa thought someone had taken flesh off to eat, but Eren had said she was just trying to gross out him and Armin. But what he remembered most was the smell. A putrid, festering smell, like rotten meat. Eren didn't need a nose like Mike's to know something had died nearby.

Sasha got up, supposedly to look for something to eat, and peered into the nearest building. She slammed the door, covered her mouth and nose, and got away.

"Someone's dead in there! I don't see any food. We should go," she said.

"Let's go," agreed Connie.

Hanji ignored them. She walked over to the door where Sasha had found the body, and, covering her mouth, looked inside. She seemed to find the corpse interesting, because she went in the door and stayed in there until Levi called her out and told her they had to go. Even then, he had to send Mikasa with her scarf over her mouth in to get her.

They left by going up the wall they had been leaning against. Nobody but Hanji wanted to find out what had happened.

It was late morning and the sun was high in the sky. The clouds from last night had mostly blown away. They had made it about five miles along the wall before they found the wall was broken. A steep, jagged cliff stretched from in front of where they were standing to a wide enough gap to fit six titans, who, either by smelling or hearing them, knew they were there.

The nearest titan grinned up at them. It started climbing up the gap in the wall. There was no way they could take all of them. In the distance, Eren could see more titans running over to the wall.

"RUN!" he yelled. He didn't want anyone else dying because of him. The horses had been too many lives lost for this expedition alone.

They jumped off the edge of the wall and used their 3DMG. There was no way they could make it over the titans, so the only way they could go was into the area without walls and run. They all glided down at a diagonal, and ran as fast as they could away from the wall. The titans would catch up to them soon.

"A forest! Over there!" Mikasa pointed at a forest of giant trees. They altered their course to the trees. In there at least they could climb one and hide from the titans. It was a long shot, but it was their best chance. Armin started lagging behind. Eren slowed down as to not leave him to the titans. The titans were clambering down from the broken wall. Maybe they would make it. Maybe.

The trees beckoned them nearer; the small glimpse of hope gave Eren new energy. Armin seemed to feel better too, although he was still panting for breath.

The titans were closing in. Eren could feel the pounding of their footsteps behind him. One of them was so close it was reaching out for him and Armin.

He and Armin lifted off the ground just as the titan closed its fingers around the air where they had just been running. They shot their cables into the trees and followed the others. Eren wondered if and when they would be able to leave the trees alive.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

After listening to everyone's stomachs rumbling (mostly Sasha's) all afternoon, Eren was relieved the sun was finally setting. Maybe after the sun set, they would be able to get back to the wall and then to Siganshina. Maybe there would be something to eat somewhere along the way.

As the first stars appeared in the sky, the titans started to slow down.

"It'll be about three more hours before its safe to get down," reported Hanji.

The eight of them were getting ever more irritable. Hanji wouldn't stop talking about titans, and Levi had climbed up further in the tree to get away from the rest of the group. Sasha was daydreaming about all the best foods she had ever eaten, and the rest sat in a sullen silence.

Eren was staring into space when he saw it. A titan. This one wasn't slowing down like the others; it was moving quickly towards them. It was smaller than he was as a titan, and as it came closer he recognized it.

"Is that… Ymir?!" Eren wondered.

Seven heads shot upwards from around him.

"It's Ymir!" Connie seemed to think it was a good thing, although nobody else looked very sure.

Ymir came right up to the tree where they were waiting for the titans to go away. She walked up to a branch and climbed out of the neck of the titan, which collapsed under her.

"Eren, I know you don't want to come with us, but you really have to. If you understood, you wouldn't be fighting for the King," Ymir obviously didn't know why they weren't inside the walls.

"I'm not fighting for the King, or for you," replied Eren.

"We know things you wouldn't believe. If you come with us, we can show you."

"Either she's using the royal We, or Reiner and Bertholdt are here, too," said Armin aside to Eren. "If they're here, it would be suicide to fight back. But it might also be suicide to not fight. But if it's just Ymir, you could take her. She's probably spent all her energy coming to find us. She probably can't turn titan until she rests for a while."

"What exactly are you going to show him?" asked Levi, coming down from a higher branch.

"The fourth wall," said Ymir.

"There's a fourth wall," said Mikasa skeptically.

"There can't be," said Levi. "I've been outside the walls plenty of times, and I've never seen anything but big ass trees and titans."

"It's further than most people have come outside the Wall Maria."

On the ground below them, two more titans appeared. The colossal titan and the armored titan. There was no way they could get out of this alive. Reiner picked up half of the group, and Bertholdt picked up the other half. The two of them started walking away with Eren and the rest in their hands. Eren could barely breathe because he had his head jammed between Jean's legs, and Jean's legs were very tense from having a strange head between them and from being held in a titan hand. Eren tried kicking what he thought was Reiner's hand, but he heard Armin say "Ow!" as his foot hit something.

There was nothing he could do. He couldn't move until Reiner put him down after a while sweating from the titan's heat with his head not being able to get out of Jean's legs. By the time he had blinked and opened his eyes, Reiner, Bertholdt, and Ymir were gone.

In front of him stood a wall. In that wall was a door. It was a big door, about 20 meters tall; with a keyhole at chest height. The keyhole matched the key he wore around his neck. The key he had stayed up at night examining many times after the fall of Siganshina. The key his father had given him on That Day. He pulled it out. He put it in the hole. It fit perfectly. He turned it, not expecting much, but it clicked. The door turned from the titans' hardened skin to wood.

"Eren," Armin was pointing behind them.

He turned around. They were surrounded by titans. He pounded on the door. It didn't budge. He wasn't strong enough. The only way they could get away was to get through that door. The only way they could get through that door was to break down the door. The only way to break down the door was to -

"Eren, you have to turn into a titan," Armin finished his thought.

Eren unwrapped his bandaged hand and put his teeth into the wound. He grew to fifteen meters tall and punched the door as hard as he could. It splintered into pieces. He had broken down the fourth wall.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

They had broken down the fourth wall.

Splinters flew out onto what could only be a city street. All of them ran through the doorway. As he passed under the wall, Eren felt himself begin to shrink. He didn't want to turn back to human just yet. There were still titans behind them. Looking back, Eren watched the titans shrinking as they passed under the wall as well. As they got down to usual human proportions, they looked like people. One at a time, they fell to their knees and collapsed. So the titans had really all been human after all.

As he himself shrunk, Eren noticed that his gear was still on him. This didn't usually happen when he came out of a titan. The others were staring at him, a confused look on their faces, except for Hanji, who looked excited and curious. There wasn't time to think about the fact that all the titans had turned human as they passed under the wall.

Lights shone out of the windows in the houses. Stronger, brighter lights than the lanterns and candles they used inside the walls. Through the windows people were eating, talking, reading, and watching some moving pictures.

A group of boys about Eren's age slid forward on pieces of wood on wheels. They stopped when they saw the tired group of civilians in front of them.

"Those are some really realistic cosplays!" said the nearest one, eying their uniforms and 3DMG.

"Yeah, you look just like Eren and Mikasa and Armin and Levi and Hanji and Sasha and Connie and Jean!" the second one seemed really excited. Eren wondered how he knew all their names.

"What happened to the titans?" asked Hanji, probably just for something to say.

"You had titan cosplayers with you as well?" the third boy was really excited. "The titans are amazing!"

"Rin, I keep telling you. They eat people! They aren't good!" reprimanded the first one.

"Eren's a titan," pointed out the one called Rin.

They must have seen the confused looks on the faces in front of them, because they stopped.

"You are cosplayers, aren't you?" asked the second boy.

"What are cosplayers?" asked Armin.

"Either they're really good at staying in character, or somehow they really are in the Survey Corps," jokes the first one.

"Cosplayers are people who dress up as characters from books or shows," he looked at Armin. "You're cosplaying Armin Arlert from Shingeki no Kyojin."

"So… I'm in a book. Like the books about the outside world? Like Romeo and Juliet?"

"Not like Romeo and Juliet…" Rin looked confused by Armin's incomprehensive look. "It's a manga. And an anime."

"What are this _manga_ and this _anime_ about?" asked Connie, trying out the new words.

"Killing titans," said the second boy.

"It's more about the horrors of war and how corrupted people in charge can be," said first boy. "Tatsuya only just finished watching the battle of Trost arc in the anime today, and he hasn't read the manga yet."

"Can we get something to eat somewhere around here?" asked Sasha. "We haven't eaten since yesterday afternoon."

"I don't think any of them are wearing wigs!" exclaimed Rin. "Those are some really amazing cosplays."

"We're not cosplayers," said Jean.

"OK. If you aren't cosplayers, you'll know which ships are canon," said the first boy.

Ships? Like for sailing on the sea? Canon? For shooting titans? Eren wondered.

"Maybe they're overtired," said the one called Tatsuya. "Let's bring them back to my house. My parents are out until Monday."

They led them to a large house a few streets away. Eren figured he might as well follow because he had no idea what was going on. He couldn't just sit there next to the wall. The Military Police might find him next to it and blame him for breaking the wall. Again. Although this time it was his fault. He wasn't even sure if there were Military Police here.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

At the boy Tatsuya's house, they ordered something called a pizza. Sasha was ecstatic when she found out it could get meat on it. All of them ate half of one, except for Sasha, who ate a whole one. Each of them took a bath, which felt amazing because they didn't have to heat the water and carry it to the tub.

Each of them got a blanket and a spot on the floor to sleep. Eren got an itchy one with a satin edge, but it definitely wasn't the worst blanket he had ever used. He pulled it over him, and thought about what Ymir had said about the fourth wall. After getting behind it, was he supposed to understand why they were trying to let the titans in? If anything, he knew less than he did before. He was used to a world where there were titans you killed if you wanted to live. Here, there was plumbing and anime and pizza. There weren't any titans to kill. Eventually, Eren drifted off to sleep, his thoughts swirling in a vicious whirlpool of questions.

He woke up late again. Somehow he had managed to sleep the whole night without dreaming about the titans eating his friends. They had already gotten his mother, Marco, and Hannes; it was only a matter of time before someone else was eaten too.

"Breakfast!" called Sasha happily from the kitchen. Tatsuya had been showing her how to use an electric stove.

Eren groaned and picked himself up. Maybe he could find out more about this world of manga and anime. Hanji and Armin seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"What do you know about the titans?" Hanji asked Tatsuya almost immediately.

"Back of the neck. You have to slice it to kill them. Also, they're really big and don't have much skin. And Eren can turn into one. I was marathoning it last night and did you know there is a female titan, too? Armin thinks it's another titan shifter," he seemed very excited about the whole thing.

"So last night, when you were… marathoning… Shingeki no Kyojin, is there any way we could watch it?" asked Armin.

"Sure! I'll bring my laptop downstairs. Have you watched any of it before?"

"No," said Eren.

"We should start at the first episode, then!" he called from the stairs.

Soon enough, they were sitting around a laptop – a small, rectangular thing with moving pictures – watching drawings move. But they weren't just any drawings; they were drawings of Eren and Mikasa, and soon Armin. As the anime moved along, Eren began to dread what was coming. He knew. It was That Day. The day his mother died.

He watched in horror as he and Mikasa found his mother trapped under the house, telling them to go and leave her. Hannes came up and tried to face the approaching titan, but got scared and picked up Eren and Mikasa and ran. Eren watched in horror as he watched his mother get picked up and placed in the mouth of the horrible, grinning titan.

"Isn't it amazing?" Tatsuya sounded unnaturally happy as the black and white scene of Mikasa played. "What's wrong?" he asked, seeing Eren's expression.

"That thing… it ate my mother."

"You're not cosplayers, are you?" asked Tatsuya.

They shook their heads.

"How come you're not in your anime world?"

"We broke down the fourth wall," said Mikasa.

"Isn't breaking down the fourth wall where you talk to the… Oh. Ohhh. OK. So there was another wall and you broke it down and now you're talking to the audience?"

"I guess so," said Armin.

"Well, the author is going to have problems unless he actually planned this. Do you mind showing me how to use 3DMG?" said Tatsuya.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Later that day, Tatsuya had his friends Rin and the other boy, who was called Daiki, at his house. Tatsuya had filled them in about how they had broken down the fourth wall. Tatsuya had showed Hanji how to use a computer, and she was entering in letters just to see what things Google would give her. Eren watched as she found the letter F and searched for the first suggestion, Facebook.

Sasha, Connie, and Armin were outside teaching Tatsuya, Rin, and Daiki how to use 3DMG. They had shot their cables into a relatively flat tree branch. They were swinging a little, but not more than most people did on their first time. Eren went back inside and found Hanji reading about something called mythology.

"Eren! Look at this! There's lots of websites dedicated to titans! Some of them have names, and it says here that they're descended from Gaia and Uranus, the Earth and the Sky. It says that they're immortal giants of incredible strength, so they at least know about titans here. The king of the titans is called Kronos and he liked to eat his kids. His wife, Rhea, fed him a rock instead of his son, Zeus. Then Zeus grew up and chopped his father into pieces and threw him into Tartarus, which is like Hell for titans. It doesn't say anything about them really being people or anything about titan shifters, though."

"What are the 'gods' that they mention?" asked Eren.

"The titans' children. It's the only part of this that doesn't make sense."

"The titans somehow aren't titans here. When they went through the wall, each titan shrunk and turned into a regular comatose. Do you think maybe they made stuff up about them?"

"I don't know. If they did make stuff up, though, we have now way of knowing what's made up and what we don't know."

"We could ask Armin if he can tell what's real and what's not, maybe. Maybe he'll be able to tell."

Eren went back outside. "Armin! Hanji wants you to help with some research; I think she's on to something."

"OK. Let's see what I can do," said Armin. "Could you help Rin with not freaking out as he's lifted as high as it'll go?"

"OK. I'll see what I can do."

Eren looked at Rin, who had finally managed to hang from the cables without swinging.

"Push upwards through your shoulders," Eren told Rin. Usually, there was a crank to lift someone up while they were learning to use 3DMG, but there wasn't one they could use.

Rin rose upwards and tensed up. He hung there, swinging on the cables.

"Put your weight into your feet," Eren told him. He tried, and slowly descended downwards.

"Who's the person writing about us?" asked Eren.

"Isayama Hajime," said Rin. "I really like the story, but he seems to have a thing for killing people."

No kidding, thought Eren. "What do you think would happen if we met him?"

"I don't know. I don't know exactly where he lives, either, but I got his autograph at con once. Can I have yours?"

"Sure. Whatever."

Rin looked at the 3DMG like he didn't know how to walk away with it on.

"The big levers on the hilts."

The two of them went inside and stood next to Hanji.

"Google what's-his-name… the author," said Eren.

"Isayama Hajime," corrected Rin.

Hanji looked through the results. "Author of Attack on Titan manga… Death threats? For killing so many people? No, for making Dot Pixis like a general from World War Two… What's World War Two?"

"A big war where the entire world was fighting each other. We're in Japan right now and the general – Yoshifuru Akiyama – was Japanese, too. Japan was on the losing side," Rin informed them.

They looked at him for a minute.

Armin navigated back to the main search page and tried the first result. "It says here he was born in Oyama, Oita, Japan. We could start there."

Rin reached over Hanji and went to what Eren recognized as a map. At the top, he typed in "Oyama, Oita, Japan." A little arrow came up pointing at some land. He made the map wider by zooming out.

"That looks like it's a couple hours away," he typed in another address. "The only problem is that none of us are old enough to drive, and they don't have any cars inside the walls, so none of you know how to either… maybe we could take a bus."


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Rin had looked at the bus schedule and decided that they could take the bus at 1:00 for ¥ 3,000. None of them had that much money to spare. Eren didn't even know what Yen was, but he understood it was a kind of money. Rin had suggested they play poker for the money. Armin had said that he and Jean were good at it, so here they were in a dimly lit room that smelled like alcohol and sweat. Armin had a growing pile of money in front of him, and Jean had one to match. Eren and Sasha had joined the table for the sole purpose of raising the bets for Jean and Armin to win so they could get the one o'clock bus on time. The people they were playing against were so drunk they didn't notice when Jean or Armin gave Eren and Sasha the thumbs up to indicate a good hand.

The man between Eren and Armin threw his last bit of paper money into the middle and took a gulp of whiskey. Both Jean and Armin gave the thumbs up and Eren and Sasha put more money in. Now everyone around the table had to put more money in. They let the man with no more money off on this one, but he wouldn't be able to play in the next round. Jean put down a royal flush and Armin put down a four of a kind. While Armin used a complicated strategy, Jean was lucky. He had often said it was the opposite as he was in life.

The man who had just run out of money slammed his empty glass down on the table and glared at Jean. He walked around the table, and out of nowhere threw a punch at Jean's head. Jean easily dodged; he had done enough hand-to-hand combat practice in training to know how to dodge a punch. The man, drunk, advanced again at Jean. He tried another punch, again aiming for Jean's head. Jean got out of his seat, causing him to miss again. He was getting angrier now. He balled up his hand and swung at Jean's groin. Jean sidestepped and threw the man's fist behind him, causing him to crash into a neighboring table. There, he puked and passed out.

"We should probably go…" said Armin.

"Good idea," said Sasha. "Let's get the money together and go."

They shoved as much of it into their boots and pockets as they could, and carried the rest in their hands.

"Hey, pretty," said some guy, looking at Sasha. He looked like he hadn't shaved in a week.

"You're not," she replied.

"She for sale?" he asked Jean, Armin, and Eren.

"No," said Jean and Armin.

"I killed two sex traffickers when I was nine. I'm not about to become one myself," said Eren.

"Whoa, dude, I'm not a sex trafficker. I'm only the cus – I'm a customer of this bar."

Eren could tell he was trying to backtrack, but after what had happened to Mikasa, he thought this man was as disgusting as a titan's stomach. He shuddered to remember being in there.

"Eren! This isn't a good idea!" called Armin, seeing Eren's expression.

"You're not Mikasa," said Eren.

"I know… But since she's not here, someone's got to stop you from doing something stupid."

"Eren, Armin's right. You need to slow down. He probably feels bad about it now," added Jean.

"He's going away. He's not bugging me anymore," pointed out Sasha.

"See? I'm leaving," said the man, slipping around a corner.

Eren ran to the corner and looked down it. The man was gone. Only the fourth wall was back there.

"It's the wall!" said Eren. "Look at this, the fourth wall is over here."

The others came over and looked at it. It was definitely the wall. Where had that man gone?


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

They ran down the alley, but the buildings were backed right up to the wall. There were no doors or windows where he could have gone. He had simply vanished.

"So we finally meet, Eren Jaeger," it was a voice from behind them. They turned around. A different man stood in the opening of the alley, blocking their way out. He wore glasses, and had longish black hair that hung down to his eyebrows. He looked like he spent too much time inside, but at the same time he had a confident air about him like he knew more than they did.

"Who are you?" demanded Eren. "How do you know who I am?"

"Isayama Hajime. I wrote about you to try to tell the world what my grandfather had done."

"What are you talking about?" asked Jean.

"My grandfather wanted to see how far he could push humanity."

"What?" even Armin was confused.

"He built walls and filled them up with gas that would work the right side of the brain – the part responsible for imagination and impulsiveness. When I had to read his notes when I was younger, he said that some people responded more drastically than others."

"So the people who responded more became the titans…" said Armin.

"Exactly. And the more left-brained people became the humans. The humans retreated into the third wall to get away, calling it Wall Maria. They set up a monarchy with partial martial rule. They started killing titans, who were only trying to become human again. My grandfather is dead now, but I can't just go out and tell everyone about everything he did because Grisha Jaeger is keeping me from doing it. He thinks I should keep up my grandfather's experiment. He even went so far as to inject drugs into his own son. I don't know what because he wouldn't tell me."

"You let my mother die!" said Eren.

"No! The titan shifters – the people with the most imaginative minds – decided to break down the wall. It wasn't me, I promise. Somehow, I think Grisha had something to do with it, but he still won't tell me anything."

"Then how do you know what happened in the first place?" asked Armin. "We watched the first episode of the anime, and it was pretty accurate. They changed a little bit, but not enough to be completely wrong."

"There are cameras hidden in all the buildings."

Eren knew what cameras were from Tatsuya. Tatsuya had explained that's how the moving pictures were made.

"I had always wanted to be a manga artist ever since I was growing up, but then my father and grandfather said I had to take over the experiment, so I wrote to the world about it in the form of a manga."

"So that's where he left to…" said Eren, thinking of his father.

"What about all the people who died?" asked Armin. "Do they just think they're dead, or are they really dead?"

"I've been trying to figure that out for years. I don't have any proof either way."

Jean looked like he had heard the thing he had wanted to hear his entire life. Marco could be alive.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

"I need to get back to work before Grisha notices I'm missing," said Isayama Hajime.

All five of them nodded and went their separate ways.

"Do you think Marco is alive?" asked Jean, trying not to get too hopeful.

"I hope so. He was my friend, too," said Armin. "But there's no way of knowing."

"We should tell the others," said Sasha.

They found their way back to Tatsuya's house after getting lost too many times to count.

"Did you get the money?" asked Tatsuya as they came in the door.

"Yes, but we don't need it. We have already met the author. He knows about the fourth wall, too," said Sasha.

"Why does he think different parts of the brain are for different things?" asked Jean.

"It makes sense that your whole brain doesn't control everything. In one of the banned books I found, there was one about neurology. It was really interesting. It had colorful pictures of brains called MRI scans that showed what parts of the brain were being used at different times –"

"Armin," said Mikasa. "Start at the beginning."

"Well, he came up to us and said that his grandfather built four walls and filled them with a gas that would simulate higher reactions in the right side of the brain, which is responsible for creativity and imagination. Different people use the different sides of their brains differently, like the way some people are right or left handed. Right brained people reacted more to the gas, and became titans, while left brained people were the humans. The few who were most right brain dominant became the titan shifters, because everything we saw inside the walls was just imagination. We don't know if anyone really died. They could just think they're dead. Marco, Eren's mom, and everyone else who died could still be alive. But Isayama Hajime wasn't like the rest of his family. He wanted to be a manga artist, not take over the family business. So he wrote a manga about what he saw in the hidden cameras inside the walls and buildings. He was trying to tell people what was going on, but he couldn't just go out and say it because Mr. Jaeger was threatening him. Mr. Jaeger must have given Eren the key and told him about the basement to distract him from the truth – there wasn't really anything in the basement. It was the fourth wall all along. So we spent all this time trying to get to Siganshina, but all we needed to find was the fourth wall. Now if we find him, maybe we can get more answers," explained Armin.

"So you still haven't found the basement?" asked Tatsuya.

They ignored him.

"Well, from all the internet searches I've been doing while you were gone, the best way to hide something would be to write a book about it, because everything that would come up would be about the book. I don't know if we should completely trust him yet," said Hanji.

"That's probably a good idea," said Armin. "But he really sounded like he was telling the truth. Although he could just be a really good liar."

"Do you know if Grisha Jaeger has anything to do with the titan attack on Wall Maria five years ago?" asked Levi.

"No, but there's a good chance he does," said Armin.

"He left just hours before the attack," said Mikasa. "He said he was going to the inner districts, but what if he was going to safety outside the walls? But how could he have gotten all the way through the titans unscathed? Is he a titan shifter?"

"I don't know," said Eren. "He wiped my memory. For all I know, I could have grown up partially outside the walls."


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

They had agreed to check out the wall where they had gotten out, and see how far it went. Was that wall where they had met Isayama Hajime the same wall they had broken down? It looked the same. Maybe it would tell them how the other titan shifters knew about this. If they knew anything at all. Maybe Grisha Jaeger was in deeper than they originally thought.

The wall where they had broken through was smooth and apparently untouched.

"Are you sure this is the place?" asked Hanji. "I was busy watching the titans."

"I'm positive," said Levi. His usual impassive expression was replaced by one of confusion.

"If the walls are made with the titans' hardening power, then maybe one of them fixed the wall. Maybe Reiner did it. Or maybe some titan we don't know yet," said Armin.

Mikasa used her 3DMG to get to the top. The others followed. The view was a stark difference of city to giant trees. The buildings looked small in comparison, or maybe it was just the gas they were breathing making the trees look big. Eren hadn't been able to see the trees from the ground, even though they were easily 50 meters taller than the wall.

"Should we split up? One group could take one side, the other group takes the other," suggested Jean.

"That's a good idea. Four of us can go right; four of us can go left," said Armin.

So they split up. Eren, Levi, Mikasa, and Armin went right, and Hanji, Sasha, Connie, and Jean went left.

They walked by several hours of big ass trees on one side, buildings on the other. Some of the buildings connected to the wall, while others had dumpsters and storage behind them. After the first five times thinking all the places where the wall connected to the buildings was where they had met Isayama Hajime, and Armin pointing out that they weren't far enough yet, Eren gave up. Armin would know where it was.

"It was here," said Armin. "And then he went that way." Armin pointed. They got down the wall with the help of their 3DMG. Armin led the way. "After this, I don't know where he went."

"I've tracked people in cities before," said Levi. "Was there anything different about him?"

"Not really. Maybe it's weird that he was carrying a notebook in his pocket the entire time," said Eren.

"I can see Hanji doing that," said Mikasa.

"What kind of shoes was he wearing?" asked Levi. "How tall was he? How much do you think he weighed?"

"I think he had sneakers. Maybe he was about my height… He was pretty skinny, so he probably weighs less than me," said Eren.

Levi started off in the direction Armin had pointed.

"Heichou, how did you do that?" asked Eren admiringly.

Levi ignored him.

They followed him for a few more blocks.

"Here," said Levi, pointing to a door on the left.

The door belonged to a small house, seemingly insignificant. Eren walked up the steps and knocked on the door. Footsteps on the other side. The door opened. But it wasn't Isayama Hajime. It wasn't even a stranger.

"You," said Eren. It was his father.

"Eren! Have you been in the basement yet? You must have, if you're here," said Grisha Jaeger.

"But the basement was just a ruse – just a distraction from the real mystery. A distraction from the fourth wall," said Armin.

"Don't be ridiculous. How could you know where to find me if you hadn't been in the basement? I gave you that key so you could find out. The basement was never really locked – it just had the trigger that would bring your memories back. We have to bring what's left of our family together before Isayama Hajime tears us apart even more. Mikasa and Armin can live with us."

"But he said you were trying to finish the experiment," said Eren.

"He was lying. He was never a creative person, so he made a world where a story was sure to happen for his precious manga. We have to stop him from letting more people die," Grisha Jaeger looked more passionate about this than Eren had ever seen him.

"I –" Eren didn't know what to say.

"Eren, which one of them is lying?" asked Mikasa.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Eren stared at his father, searching his eyes for any sign of deception. Looking at his face was almost the same as when he was telling Eren that he should try to be nice to Mikasa the first time he met her. Like his opinion was more important than Eren's. But, looking back at it, he had been right. Mikasa was one of his closest friends.

"Eren, I'm your father, you can trust me," said Grisha Jaeger.

"Don't pretend like you've never lied to me before," said Eren.

"When have I ever lied to you?"

"You wiped my memory, for one," said Eren.

"That was Isayama Hajime. We were living here, and you were really creative. He wanted to know how you would be in his special walled world, so he wiped your memory and put you in Siganshina with me and your mother. He threatened us. We couldn't leave or tell anyone, not even our own son."

"Sure did a lot of good for Mom."

"So… If you weren't allowed to leave, how did you get out? Eren said you left for the inner districts on business, but then you never turned up. Now you're here. It only makes sense that you came outside the day of the attack and that you knew something was going to happen," said Armin.

"As soon as I heard about the attack, I went straight back to Siganshina to look for all of you. I couldn't find any survivors, so I managed to get out. It was only after I found and threatened Isayama Hajime that I discovered you were still alive. I wanted to get back to you, trust me Eren, but he wouldn't let me. He said if I tried, you would get hurt or killed. When he found out I was trying to arrange that a plane would fly over the walls, he rigged your 3DMG belt so it would turn you upside down. Seeing you nearly get concussed from trying it repeatedly was enough to prevent me from trying anything that dramatic again. My only hope was that you would find the basement."

"Are you sure that's what you think?" asked Levi.

"Yes. All I wanted was to get my son back."

There was a shuffling behind them.

"Go back to your silly little stories," said Grisha Jaeger.

"Who are you talking to?" said Isayama Hajime. "Why don't you let them in?"

Grisha Jaeger backed away from the door to create an opening where they could come in. Eren, Mikasa, Armin, and Levi entered. They sat down on a futon that looked like it needed to be vacuumed. Levi tried to hide a look of disgust.

"So which of you is lying?" asked Mikasa, elbows on her knees, barely sitting on the futon at all.

"He is," said Grisha Jaeger and Isayama Hajime at the same time, pointing to each other.

"Why should we trust either of you?" asked Levi.

"Because I'm Eren's father! He knows me," said Grisha Jaeger.

"Because… I don't know… I guess you have to just take my word for it," said Isayama Hajime.

Eren looked back and forth between the two of them. They both looked sincere – his father had a reason, but why didn't Isayama Hajime?

"I – I don't know," said Eren.

"Usually, liars come up with a reason why they need to be trusted. They come up with an alibi to hide the evidence. Eren's father says that he should be trusted because he's Eren's father, even though he has a history of lying. He says he lied because Isayama Hajime made him. On the other hand, Isayama Hajime says we don't have a reason to trust him, but also that Eren's dad was the one threatening him. So since Eren's father has the stronger alibi, it could either be what really happened, or it could be that he made up a really good alibi to use for this occasion. It really could go either way," said Armin.

"Can I think about it for a while?" asked Eren.

"Of course, but remember, the longer you take, the more people could die," said Grisha Jaeger.

"Take as long as you want. They might not be dead," Eren got the feeling that Isayama Hajime had either been telling himself that they weren't really dead, or he was trying to tell them so he wouldn't get found out.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

They met up with the others at Tatsuya's house an hour later.

"Did you find out what's going on?" asked Tatsuya.

"No. Grisha Jaeger said Isayama Hajime was lying," said Mikasa.

"Well, he does have a reputation in the fandom for being the world's worst father," said Rin.

"He wasn't so bad," said Eren.

"He took me in when I had nowhere else to go," added Mikasa.

The door burst open. A boy with freckles was shoved in by Jean. He stared around the room, confused.

"Marco?" asked Armin.

The boy looked at him. "How do you know my name?"

"You don't remember yet?" asked Jean. "You don't remember all those days in training when we would stay up late talking, and then we'd be so tired we would miss breakfast because we were sleeping? Then we would try to eat while we were training, but we would just throw up…"

"Yuck," said Marco. "What are you talking about? I've never seen you before in my life."

"Maybe something to eat will help him," suggested Sasha.

It was worth a try. Tatsuya got something out of the fridge and gave it to Marco. He stared at it, not so hungry after Jean's story.

"Remember we used to clean our gear together?" asked Armin. "I knew every single scratch and dent on yours as well as I knew mine. You probably knew mine, too." He took his off to show Marco.

"What is that?" asked Marco.

"3DMG – three dimensional maneuver gear. It's useful for killing titans."

"Titans, like in mythology?"

"No," said Hanji. "I did some research, and they're different."

"What are these titans?" asked Marco.

"They're giants that can only be killed by slicing the back of their neck…" Hanji went on to explain everything she knew about titans to Marco. After about a minute, his eyes started to glaze over.

"I don't know who you are or what you're talking about," he said. "I should get home. My parents are probably wondering where I am."

He pushed past Connie, who was standing in the doorway, and strode down the street.

"Why doesn't he remember?" asked Connie.

"Well, he could be someone who looks just like Marco and has the same name, or he could have had his memory wiped after he died. I don't know how he could have gotten out. We all saw his body go into the pyre at the funeral. He would've had to fall through the ground or something…" said Armin.

"But if it's true that we imagined it all…" put in Hanji.

"We could have thought he was dead while he was outside. Maybe he thinks he dreamed it all," said Armin.

"How can he not remember…?" Jean wondered aloud.

He pushed past Connie and ran out the door. "Marco!" called Jean as he ran down the street.

"Go away! Before I call the police!" Marco broke into a run and pulled out an iPhone.

Jean stopped at the word police. He didn't think there were Military Police here, but he had to be safe. "Marco…" he called out like a sad puppy. Normally, Eren would have laughed at him, but couldn't help but feel bad for him. He looked around at the sad faces around him. Even Levi and Hanji, who hadn't met Marco before today, looked upset.

Later that night, while he was lying in his blankets, Eren heard the sounds of crying coming from nearby places on the floor. He tried to push back the tears himself, but it didn't work. Soon, the pillow was soaked below his eyes and nose.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

In the morning, Eren walked to the small house where they had met his father and Isayama Hajime the day before. Mikasa insisted on going, to keep him safe, she said. Armin came too, and before long everyone was going. Eren knocked on the door. When it opened, his father looked around it. He looked surprised by the crowd on the porch.

"Have you made your decision?" he asked.

"Yes," said Eren.

Grisha Jaeger ushered them inside.

Isayama Hajime had heard them come in the door. "Who are you going to trust?"

"Well, both your stories match up in several places," said Armin. "First, there are four walls that someone built for an experiment. These walls are filled with a gas that causes people to use the right side of their brain more. This causes people to be more imaginative, making the left-brain dominant people become titans. These titans want to become human again, and the only way they think they can do that is to eat a titan shifter. Secondly, Eren's memory was wiped, and one of you did it for any number of reasons. Probably because he used to live in the outside world. Thirdly, whoever isn't lying is trying to expose the secret about the wall, but the other is threatening them so they can't say it directly."

"Yesterday, Jean found a boy named Marco who looked exactly like the Marco we knew from the Training Corps. The only difference was that he didn't know who we were. Dad said that everyone who died really was dead, while Isayama Hajime said they could be alive. I think this is the same Marco, and he's somehow had his memories wiped like mine were. I think both your stories started out being the truth, but that's how all good lies start out. I think, because of Marco, Isayama Hajime is being slightly more honest," said Eren. "Now we need to somehow tell everyone about what is going on."

"What - ! But I'm you father!" said Grisha Jaeger.

"Do you have any rope?" asked Levi.

"Sure," said Isayama Hajime. He looked happy that they had decided to trust him, but at the same time he was nervous. He went into another room and came back with a long clothesline rope.

Levi brought a kitchen chair from across the hall and took the rope. Hanji pulled out her swords. "Sit down," she said to Grisha Jaeger.

Grisha Jaeger put his hands up and carefully sat down in the chair. Levi found the middle of the rope and wrapped it around Grisha Jaeger's wrists. He then wrapped it around his upper body, too, tying it to the chair. He wrapped it around his legs, tying the ends off just above his ankles.

"Now it's safe to contact someone," said Jean.

"We should contact a newspaper, and the police, and probably the people still inside the walls," suggested Isayama Hajime.

"The Military Police?" asked Connie.

"We should definitely tell them," said Isayama Hajime. "Wait. Do you mean you think the regular police are the Military Police?"

"Yes," said Sasha.

"They're different. These police aren't so bad."

"You contact these police and this news, and we'll try to tell the people inside the walls," ordered Levi.

"How are we going to get across the walls without getting eaten and having our memories wiped?" asked Hanji.

"If you had some gas masks, you could get by without being affected by the gas," said Isayama Hajime. "But I don't know where we could get any."

"You could try the internet," suggested Hanji.

"EBay," said Isayama Hajime. Eren thought he had heard wrong.

"What?"

"EBay. You can buy just about anything." Isayama Hajime pulled out a laptop and opened it. He went to a website that looked somewhat like Google, but it said EBay on the top. He typed in "gas mask" in the box and hit search. The first result was a set of ten gas masks. He clicked on it. "Let's buy them."


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Their gas masks came in the mail the next morning. Isayama Hajime had written a letter to the newspaper and the police, and they had showed up and interviewed him the previous afternoon. They were somewhat doubtful, and the newspaper hadn't done a story on it, but at least they had been told. Maybe they would realize it was the truth when people start coming out from behind the walls.

The eight soldiers put on their gas masks. They looked like elephants with 3DMG. They got over the wall, and only then realized how far they had to walk. Through the eyeholes in their masks, they couldn't even see the Wall Maria in the distance. Slightly closer, and off to the left, they could see a forest of regular-sized trees. They were in the middle of an open section, and the sun beat down on their heads. Connie had already started worrying about getting striped tan lines on his head from the gas mask straps. Eren's cheeks were slick with sweat under his mask. He wondered if that was enough to make it fall off. Everyone felt like they were melting.

Someone can over to them. It took Eren a minute to realize the person was sleepwalking.

"Wake up!" said Mikasa, touching the person's shoulder. But it was like she wasn't even there. The sleepwalker ignored her and continued on its way.

Hanji pulled out a notebook and pencil that she had somehow stowed away in her gear and made a few notes about the sleepwalker as the group continued on their way.

Throughout the day they saw hundreds of sleepwalkers. Men, women, children, and everything in between.

They got to the Wall Maria by sunset. Sasha complained about being hungry, but everyone knew they couldn't eat without taking the gas masks off. They went to sleep hungry.

In the morning, they were even hungrier, but they had to keep their gas masks on at least until they got inside Wall Rose. It took another day to get to the next wall. Luckily, the second day had been cold and rainy, but they were still severely dehydrated. They scaled Wall Rose, barely strong enough to use their 3DMG, and found that Trost was nearby. They walked the remaining distance to Trost before taking their gas masks off.

"You look thirsty," said a man Eren recognized as Kitts Woerman. He had helped them in the battle of Trost. "Here, take some water."

He handed the nearest person, Connie, a jug of water. Connie drank it in big gulps before handing it to Sasha. Soon, everyone had gotten some.

"Is it true that you broke down the Wall Shina?" asked Kitts Woerman.

"No," Eren panted, not entirely refreshed by the water.

"Why do the Military Police say you did then?"

"I… got mad at them for being lazy jerks."

"So why was there a hole in the wall?"

"They made the hole with a cannon."

"And then you ran away," he looked like he was sure Eren was lying.

"They tried to hang all of us," Eren had regained his breath. "So we ran to Siganshina. But we didn't make it. Instead, the titans cornered us in a tree until Ymir, Reiner, and Bertholdt - other titan shifters – rescued us and took us to a fourth wall. I did break down that wall, but it was repaired overnight. I don't know how…" Eren summarized what had happened best he could. "So now we're here."

"I think the sleepwalkers were titans," said Armin.

"Can you prove any of this?" asked Kitts Woerman.

"I have lots of notes in my notebook," said Hanji, handing him the notebook.

He looked through it, frowning at the drawings of the titans who had turned into sleeping people after they had broken through the wall. "There were moving drawings of us?" he asked. It had been harder to dismiss when Eren had just told him.

"There are pictures that move that are so realistic they look like real life," said Hanji.

"The Americans… they're people who live really far away – they're making one of those for us," said Armin.

"Either this is a really complicated lie, or you're telling the truth," said Kitts Woerman. "Go talk to Pixis about it. He came back to the Stationary Troops after you were accused of breaking down the wall."


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

They found Pixis sleeping in front of a map of the Wall Rose with a warm shot of whiskey next to his hand.

"Pixis!" called Hanji.

Pixis' head shot up from the table where it had been resting. He blinked. Seeing the whiskey next to him, he drained it in one gulp.

"…Mmmm," he said. "What is it?"

"Pixis," repeated Hanji. "I assume you heard about how we escaped our execution."

"Yes, although the Military Police said you were hung in a public execution. Everyone knows they're lying because you were seen running away."

"We were going to go to Siganshina, but we ran into a few titans and had to change direction," Armin told Pixis the whole story.

"Interesting…" he stroked his mustache. "But what about the other titan shifters? Where are they?"

"We don't know," said Armin.

"If they know the secret, then maybe they can disappear by imagining it. Maybe they know what's outside and Grisha Jaeger is threatening them, too, so they're trying to get as many people out as they can. That's why we think they're enemies of mankind," suggested Levi.

"That actually makes sense," said Sasha. "I mean, if people are still alive when they get out, then that would save them. It just seems like they have no memory of what happened... But that might actually be a good thing."

"So the question is: can Eren disappear like the others?" finished Mikasa.

Eren looked blankly at the faces staring at him. "I… I don't know."

"Try it," said Hanji.

Eren sucked in a breath, both to clear his head and to breathe in as much of the gas as he could. He hoped the extra gas would help. He focused on appearing next to Connie, who was across the room.

When he opened his eyes, nothing had happened. He was still standing between Mikasa and Armin.

"Try harder," suggested Jean.

Eren tried again. He opened his eyes when he felt a warm liquid running out of his nose. He dabbed at it. It was blood. He pinched his nose and leaned forward a bit.

"Maybe that's not how they do it. Maybe they just turned into humans again and hid," said Armin.

"So do you believe us, Pixis?" asked Levi.

"I think it's a bit far-fetched, but it sounds closer to the truth than what the Military Police are saying," said Pixis.

"What are the Military Police saying?" asked Connie.

"First, they said all eight of you were hung, then when they found out you had been seen escaping the walls, they said you had worked some kind of titan shifter magic. They said they had seen you die, but then people came forward with eyewitness accounts of you climbing out of the gallows."

"Did anything else happen while we were gone?" asked Hanji.

"The king was poisoned. He recovered, and they caught the culprit. They're accusing Historia Reiss and Erwin Smith for the attempted murder of Lord Balto."

Eren let go of his nose, forgetting he had a nosebleed. It had stopped bleeding. Apparently it was over.

"What?" Armin was confused. Why would Erwin or Historia poison the king? They were smarter than that.

"They're supposed to hang tomorrow at noon in the Mitras district," said Pixis.

"We should rescue them," said Connie.

"If we do, we shouldn't shout our plans out like this," Mikasa pointed out.

"There's nowhere safe to talk anyway, so here is as good a place as any," said Sasha.

Before long they had made a plan that Armin said probably wouldn't work, but it was the best one they had.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Pixis had gotten them all Stationary Troops uniforms. Eren thought it was weird seeing all his friends with roses on their shoulders and backs, but it was the only way they could get into the Inner District. Pixis had said that he and several other members of the Stationary Troops would defend Erwin and Historia in court, and, as the trial had already happened, Pixis was sending them to vouch for Erwin and Historia before the execution.

They got to the Inner District, Mitras, at 10:00 the next morning. They had dyed their hair different colors, too. Eren kept seeing Armin's brown hair out of the corner of his eye and wondering who was next to him.

They had decided Sasha would do the talking because the Military Police probably didn't know her as well as they knew the others.

"…Erwin Smith and Historia Reiss for the attempted murder of Lord Balto!" They walked in just in time to hear the end of what the executioner was saying.

Sasha threaded her way through the crowd to the platform.

"Commander Pixis has sent me to say that these people would not try to poison Lord Balto because Historia Reiss is part of the royal family. Look at her – does she look like she would be capable of killing someone?" Armin had made her memorize these lines on the way here. "Erwin Smith had no reason to poison Lord Balto because, um, he had Historia's best interests in mind. Both of them have proven themselves to be loyal defenders of humanity in the past; I'm only trying to save the lives of innocent people. On the behalf of mankind, I implore you to let them live."

The Military Police looked at her. Even from where he was standing, Eren could see Sasha swallow.

"The reason Historia Reiss was convicted was because she is the heir to the throne and that should be reason enough to want to kill the person above her," said a member of the Military Police.

"Are you saying that you would have done it in her place?" Sasha was improvising the same way she had when she claimed potatoes were best served hot.

"I - of course not," said the member of the Military Police.

"That's what it sounded like. So this makes you even guiltier than she is!"

"I said I wouldn't do it!" the member of the Military Police sounded like a very young child.

"We all heard you," said Sasha. "The question is: how many people believe you?"

A few hands went up; mostly among the Military Police.

"So, how do you like getting blamed in nearly the same way Historia Reiss and Erwin Smith were?"

"I –" the member of the Military Police didn't know what to say.

"Well, he didn't do it," said another member of the Military Police. "Historia Reiss and Erwin Smith did."

The executioner led first Historia then Erwin up to the gallows. Historia's eyes widened when she recognized Sasha even with black hair and a Stationary Troops uniform.

"If you hang Historia Reiss, we will be left without a ruler!" Jean shouted from the crowd.

The executioner paused before looping the noose around Historia's neck. He then moved on to Erwin.

"The Survey Corps will have no leader without Erwin Smith now that Hanji Zoe, his successor, is gone!" shouted Connie.

The executioner paused again, but still looped the noose around Erwin's neck.

"The Survey Corps were useless anyway," said one of the members of the Military Police. "Always going on pointless missions outside. Always losing more and more soldiers to the titans. As if we haven't lost enough already. We don't need people to be pointlessly wasting their lives for a lost cause."


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

"The Survey Corps were useless anyway," said one of the members of the Military Police. "Always going on pointless missions outside. Always losing more and more soldiers to the titans. As if we haven't lost enough already. We don't need people to be pointlessly wasting their lives on a lost cause."

Eren was about to run forward in a blind rage when Mikasa grabbed his arms.

"Eren, this isn't a good idea."

"Eren… Eren Jaeger?" whispers swirled around them in a vortex of doom.

"I thought he died."

"No, he got away, remember?"

"No, he went outside the walls and got eaten by titans."

The Military Police had noticed. They left Erwin and Historia, both with sacks over their heads, to see why everyone thought Eren Jaeger was somewhere in the crowd.

They found Eren straining against Mikasa's vice-like grip.

"Are you sure this is him?" asked one of them.

"Positive. Nice disguise, Jaeger," said one of the Military Police members that had blamed Eren for breaking a hole in the wall.

"That's Levi Ackerman!" said another member of the Military Police, looking at Levi. "Since when were you blond?"

"We should hang them with the other two," suggested another member of the Military Police. "We were supposed to hang them a week ago, but they got away!"

Someone grabbed Eren and tore Mikasa off him. He looked behind him to see the others being dragged through the crowd. They were dragged up to the platform and pushed to the ground. Eren felt his hands being tied behind his back as a sack was thrust over his head.

"Did you know anything about your comrades working with Eren Jaeger?" asked a voice.

"What? No! I – I didn't know anything. They were new recruits and I didn't really know them," Sasha's voice. "I don't know how they made it into the Stationary Troops! I don't know!"

"I'm definitely going to have a word with Pixis about this," said someone, probably someone in the Military Police.

"That's right, I didn't know anything," Sasha was going to give herself away if she didn't shut up soon. "I mean, they were new recruits. How could I have known?"

"You know something, don't you?" it was the same voice as before. Eren heard the sound of a sword being drawn. He didn't know if it was Sasha or someone in the Military Police.

More swords being drawn.

"You're Sasha Braus, aren't you?"

"You're forgetting that I finished in the top ten in my training squad," said Sasha.

"Yeah, so did we," said someone in the Military Police.

"But. I've. Been. Practicing!" said Sasha, punctuating each word with what sounded like a swing from her swords.

More slicing. Eren started to hear screams of agony. It didn't sound like Sasha.

"Now let them go before more of you get hurt pointlessly." Eren had never been afraid of Sasha before now. He had always thought of her as someone who would goof off most of the time and then eat a lot of food. This was something he could see Mikasa doing, but Sasha? He hadn't realized she had changed this much in the last year.

Footsteps coming over to him. The bag was pulled off his head, and the ropes holding his wrists were cut.

"Are you OK?" asked Sasha. "Help me get the others."

They untied Mikasa, Armin, Connie, Jean, Levi, Hanji, Erwin, and Historia.

Now that they were free, they still had to get through the crowd. The crowd that was getting angrier the longer they stood over the Military Police. How were they going to get out?


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Eren stared back at the angry crowd. He could tell they wanted to see that hanging, but no one was going to be hanged today.

"Let us by and nobody gets hurt," ordered Sasha, raising her sword.

A few of the people backed up, trying to clear a path as much as trying to get away from Sasha. Still more crowded up in front of the platform, blocking their way out.

Everyone drew their swords except for Erwin and Historia, who didn't have any.

"This world is a lie," said Armin. "Behind Wall Maria, there is a fourth wall. Behind this fourth wall, there is an outside world. Not a world full of titans; a world full of people. These people have amazing technology. They have moving pictures, water that comes into their house at the turn of a knob, and big boxes to keep their food fresh for longer. They have something called airplanes that fly through the air at great speeds. They have so much food and water that they will never run out. We were trapped here and forced to breathe a gas that is in the air. This gas makes us see things that aren't really there; for example the titans. The titans are really just people who reacted more to the said gas. They aren't even awake. When people die, they somehow get to the outside and forget everything about the walls and the titans. If we all get outside, we can escape the titans once and for all."

"You really expect us to believe that?" shouted someone in the front row.

"What you said is a lie, not the titans!"

"Are you defending the titans?" Eren asked the person who said the titans weren't a lie.

"You are! You were the ones who said they didn't mean to eat anyone!"

"What are you talking about?" asked Historia.

"Long story – if we told you now, we would get recaptured by the Military Police," said Armin.

"We still need a way of getting around this crowd!" said Jean.

"Maybe if Eren turns into a titan…" mused Armin.

It was worth a try. Eren raised his thumb up to his mouth and bit it. He kept the goal of getting through the crowd clear in his mind. He imagined himself as the 15 meter giant; he didn't care if he turned into a monster along the way. He was standing above the crowd, as tall as the buildings. Steam issued out of his mouth as he breathed.

"It's a titan!" shouted someone below.

Eren lowered his hands to the ground, palms upward.

"I think he wants us to get on," said Mikasa.

Eren lifted them up when they got into his hands. He took one huge step over the people and left as quickly as he could. When he got to the wall, he put them down and climbed out of the back of his titan's neck.

On the way back to Wall Rose, Armin told Erwin and Historia about everything that had happened since the first hanging.

"I wanted to rescue you, but Erwin said it would be suicide for all of us," said Historia, about the first hanging.

"It's OK. It worked out," said Eren. "Now what we need to do is make everyone believe us about the fourth wall."

_**A/N:**_

_I won't be able to upload any more chapters for the next week because I'm going away and I won't have internet access. I will definitely keep working on this story in a notebook, so hopefully the next chapter will be longer than this one._

_Also thanks to everyone who reviewed, and to everyone who followed/favorite this story, and basically everyone who read all the way to the end of this chapter. I love you guys!_

_So basically I won't be able to post anything until at least May 31._


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

They got to Wall Rose and told Pixis what happened.

"It's probably a good idea to get away before the Military Police find you," he said.

"Or we have to prove to them that we're telling the truth," added Armin.

"Do we have any way of doing that?" asked Jean.

"Maybe… if we convinced someone to put on a gas mask and then if we can bring them outside Wall Rose, they might believe us. I don't think it will work, but it's the only thing I can think of," answered Armin.

"The fact that we would probably get arrested on sight makes this almost impossible," added Hanji.

"If we go back outside, we wouldn't be able to do anything, though," Eren pointed out.

A moment of silence. Armin looked like he was thinking.

"If we go outside… we could… we could tell people about what's behind the walls. They didn't believe Isayama Hajime, but maybe that's because he's the person who wrote about us. It's reverse psychology, but maybe they think he's looking for publicity. Maybe they'll believe us because they don't know who we are," said Armin.

"Both ideas are risky," pointed out Levi. "But I think the second one is more likely to work."

They set out to Wall Maria in the morning. Now that there were ten of them, and only eight gas masks, they were rotating them between everyone except for Eren, who had figured out how to turn into a titan at will. He wasn't positive, but he insisted he could, so if any of them died it wasn't his fault.

The trip took all day. Nothing happened except for the fact that they didn't see any titans until sunset on the other side of Wall Maria. It was Ymir, Bertholdt, and Reiner.

"Will you come with us yet?" asked Ymir.

"We still don't know what your objectives are," said Armin.

"We want to show people the fourth wall. To show them what's true and what the risks are. We want them to find out who is behind this and get out of this hellhole," replied Ymir.

"The only thing we've done wrong is separate families, but it felt like we were killing them," explained Bertholdt.

"Is there really no other way of going about this?" asked Historia.

"Nobody believes us on either side of the wall, but at least this way we're freeing them from this place," said Reiner.

"What about Isayama Hajime?" asked Connie.

"He's the person who started all this. Him and his conspirator, Grisha Jaeger," said Reiner.

"What? They were enemies! They weren't working together!" said Sasha.

"They were lying. It's not surprising, knowing them. Isayama Hajime is the grandson of the person who created these walls, and Grisha Jaeger is his old friend. The two of them have been conspiring for years. They've been giving the money Isayama Hajime got from writing a best-selling manga about us to reporters for years to keep them quiet," explained Ymir.

"He's going to have to change what happened if he wants to keep the secret. If he keeps the story exactly the way it happened, then he'll end up telling the world about everything," Armin put in.

"That's exactly his plan. If he tells everyone in the form of his manga, if anyone looks for any information on what really happened, all they'll find is the manga. They'll think it's fiction and then we won't be able to convince a single person," said Bertholdt.

"Tatsuya, Rin, and Daiki believed us," Mikasa pointed out.

"Who?" asked Ymir.

"People we met outside," explained Jean.

"If we contact them, maybe they can spread the word on the internet," said Armin.

"If we can beat Isayama Hajime's next chapter of manga, this just might work," said Ymir.


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Eren looked at Armin's face to see if he could tell if they were lying. Armin looked impassive; like he was holding back his emotions. It was one of the first things they had learned in training. Armin had been bad at it until he had overheard Jean talking to Marco about how he couldn't believe some people hadn't gotten the hang of using the cables on their 3DMG. Marco had told Jean that he was being disrespectful, but Armin had already gone to cry on his bunk. Eren remembered Mikasa telling Armin that he was smarter than Jean and that he should show him. She helped him wipe the tears off his face and take a deep breath. Armin walked over to Eren and said how he couldn't believe how some people couldn't remember the exact size and location of a titan's weak spot. After several days of fighting, Marco managed to get the two of them to talk it out, and since then they had been good friends.

Unlike Armin, Historia looked like she was willing to believe Ymir over anyone else. She looked as ready to go to Hell and back for her as Eren was for Armin or Mikasa.

Mikasa, like Eren, was looking to Armin to see if he thought Ymir, Reiner, and Bertholdt were lying or not. Mikasa caught Eren's eye with a questioning look. He shrugged. He could tell just as well as she could.

"So how are we supposed to know if you're the ones telling the truth?" asked Jean.

"Because we were the ones who wanted you to find out the truth. We were the ones who took you to the fourth wall," said Reiner, looking adoringly at Historia.

"I would trust Ymir with anything," said Historia.

"Ymir saved us at Castle Utgard," said Connie.

"But then Reiner and Bertholdt captured both Eren and Ymir," put in Levi.

"We were trying to tell them about the fourth wall so they would come with us," said Bertholdt.

"I knew a little bit about it," said Ymir. "But I didn't know what was really going on."

"We had Annie inside Wall Shina to try to convince some of the people in there, but you found out she was the female titan and forced her to encase herself into a crystal to survive," said Reiner.

"Reiner, I really want to trust you; you were always nice to me when we were still in training, but you lied to us too much to really be considered trustworthy since then. You're right, neither Isayama Hajime, nor Grisha Jaeger have much going for them as well, but you've lied to us, too. Take us back to wherever you wanted us to go, and we'll decide if we can trust you," said Armin.

They followed Reiner through the forest of giant trees away from Wall Maria.

"Before you get there, there are more of us. People you haven't met yet. We are warriors, willing to do anything to get people to listen to us about the fourth wall and to save them from everything that's inside," explained Reiner.

"That's what I don't like about it," muttered Bertholdt.

"We expect everyone to help in some way, whether it's to go into the walls to pose as soldiers or civilians, or to find out what's going on Outside. People will expect you to help out right away."

Reiner led them into a clearing in the trees. A concrete door loomed out of the gathering darkness. He typed in a code and pushed it open. He led them through another door.

"Welcome to our headquarters."


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

Eren had barely been at Fort Senshi for twenty-four hours. He was being sent inside Wall Maria to try to wake up some of the titans, while the rest of his friends were going outside the fourth wall to convince people of what was going on.

He was somewhat glad none of them were coming with him. He didn't want anyone else dying on his behalf. He was going with five other titan shifters who he really hoped he wouldn't like, but so far they had been fairly friendly.

The plan was that they would take turns as titans, and carry the others out of harm's way as they searched for subconscious titans.

From his perch in the hair of a woman named Andrea in her titan form, he could see the sky and the tops of trees in the distance. Andrea adjusted her course to approach a smaller titan to the left. Eren tensed his muscles as the titan came closer. He was used to either going away from titans or killing them.

A boy younger than him – Celestino – leapt off Andrea's head to the approaching titan's shoulders with no 3DMG and sliced the person out of the titan's neck. He gave the person to Andrea, who placed it on her head where Eren, Marlon, Elizabeth, and Vasilisa held it down and covered its mouth and nose.

"We have one, we need to go back to base now," said Vasilisa.

After several more trips with no casualties, Eren began to wonder if something was up. Each of them had done every position at least once, and Eren thought it seemed almost too easy.

"Why does this seem almost too easy?" Eren asked that night.

"Because the titans are like me and you – they don't want to die," said Celestino. "Also it helps if you approach them slowly."

"No, how are we even getting close without 3DMG and no casualties?"

"I told you. It helps if you approach slowly."

"The hard part is not killing them. You need to be pretty good with a sword to not take their head off, and even still, it's hard to not hurt them at all. You did the best job I've ever seen a beginner do. You managed to get one out and only cut off a toe. My best is only cutting off the feet. And then you have to get back fast enough so they don't suffocate. 80% of titans we rescue will never walk again because of brain damage due to lack of oxygen," explained Marlon.

"So how is this saving them then?" asked Eren.

"You don't remember being a titan, do you? Most people remember being a titan until they figured out how to shift back," said Marlon.

"Oh. Why does that matter?" asked Eren.

"Being a titan without purpose outside the walls is like hell. Worse hell than living as a human inside the walls. Time seems to stretch until every second is an eternity of suffocating, humid blackness. Then there are the nightmares. I have no knowing if any of mine were real or not, but I remember eating dozens of people. Survey Corps, children who wandered out the gates while nobody was watching, outcasts, I remember eating every person I saw and having no control over any of it. I would have given up the ability to walk to not be a titan out there," explained Marlon.

"But I thought you'd kill people to wipe their memories and send them outside," pushed Eren.

"Not titans!" said Celestino. "The titans can help us kill – " Celestino was cut off by Marlon shushing him.

"What?" asked Eren.

A scream echoed down the hall into their barracks. Eren shot up to see who or what it was, but Marlon and Celestino pulled him back. Eren was bigger than both of them, but there were two of them and one of him.

"Eren!" called a different voice.

Eren was sure he could hear Levi ordering him to get his ass down the hall.

"Armin!" he called back before Celestino clapped a hand over his mouth.


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Eren woke up tied down to a bed in the dark. His forehead throbbed like it had after he tried to use the faulty 3DMG when he first started in the Trainee Corps. He was sure that if he could reach up to touch it he would feel a lump the size of his fist. It hurt to open his eyes, but it was dark anyway. The silence pressed on his eardrums. He pulled at the straps binding his wrists and ankles to the bed, but they wouldn't budge and it just made his head hurt more. He lifted his head and slammed it down on the mattress below him. More pain shot through his skull, making his brain feel like it was going to implode. Obviously, there was no gas in here for him to turn titan.

He lay there for what must have been hours, arms and legs stiff, but he didn't really notice that over the throbbing of his head.

A ribbon of light shot across his closed eyes. More pain. He squeezed his eyes further closed.

"Ah, Eren. It's nice to see you awake. You know I've missed the time we used to spend in the basement together." It was his father.

The door opened further.

"I – I thought you said you gave me the key to the basement so I'd know about the fourth wall," said Eren. Talking made his head feel like it was going to split open.

"And you would've. But that isn't the only thing that's down here. Yes Eren, we're in the basement. We're mere feet from where your mother was eaten." A light flicked on over the bed. Behind his closed eyes, Eren could only see white that occasionally flashed red. He heard his father moving around him.

"Why am I here?" he asked.

"You have always been more than my son to me," started Grisha Jaeger. "You are my prize experiment. You are and always will be the greatest titan shifter I have ever made. Now I just need you to drink this…"

He pushed Eren's pulsating head upright and poured a sickly sweet liquid down his throat. Eren tried to spit it out, but he was too weak. As his eyes adjusted to the flickering electric light on the ceiling, he looked over at his father. Grisha Jaeger was pushing the air bubbles out of a hypodermic needle. He walked over to Eren's other side and stuck the needle into a vein in Eren's left bicep.

"When we broke down the walls to Siganshina, we wanted to test your abilities. We found them somewhat… lacking. You should have been able to kill all the titans inside the walls with a thought. You should have been able to save everyone, but you ended up needing to be saved by Hannes. Even in Trost, when we thought that maybe all the training you had done would make you more in tune with your body, but it wasn't enough. You barely survived. You killed a few titans, and then you were too exhausted to continue. You even became one of them until your friend Armin was kind enough to wake you up. Hopefully, after this, you will be able to shift even without the enhancing gas in the air. Then, and only then, will you be able to kill all the world leaders and do away with war, prejudice, and dystopian governments everywhere. We will spread food, water, and shelter out so everyone has enough, and then we will wipe everyone's horrible memories. Everyone will be happy."

Eren looked at him like he had lost his mind. Grisha Jaeger had a far-off, maniacal look in his eyes, like he could almost taste the glorious outcome he had just described.

"Dad," Eren started. "You do realize that the chances of this actually turning out good aren't very high, don't you?"

Grisha Jaeger was staring off into space, ignoring him.


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter 29

"I'm not going to help you," said Eren.

Grisha Jaeger continued to ignore him.

Eren's head started to throb again. He moaned and sunk back into the mattress.

"You're almost ready," said Grisha Jaeger. "We'll just need to do one more test to see if you can do it."

"I already told you! I'm not doing it!"

"Yes you are," said Grisha Jaeger absentmindedly. "You see, we have your friends. We'll start by pulling off the fingernails from Erwin's remaining hand, and then we'll just keep taking off pieces until you agree to work with us. You were kind enough to bring nine of them, so we have enough to last quite a while. It's up to you how many of them die."

Eren gaped at him. So that had been Armin calling his name; probably trying to warn him. He knew he had to do something if they were ever going to get out.

"Can I see them?" he asked.

"Once you recover from that nasty concussion," said his father. "In a day or two."

* * *

It was his second day in what Armin had decided to call The Dungeon, and he was starting to figure out the routine. He was brought in late in the evening the night before last and were expected to sleep until the light on the ceiling turned on in what Armin assumed was morning. Just minutes after the light came on, someone opened the door, flanked with armed guards, and delivered water and peanut butter sandwiches on bread as white as Armin's uniform pants. It tasted disgusting, but Armin was hungry enough to eat just about anything. A while later, the same thing happened. Armin wondered why they needed two armed guards for just him. He wondered how the others were doing. Soon before the light turned off, another peanut butter sandwich with water was brought in. In the morning, he was brought another one, and he presumed he was to get another soon.

He had examined the door yesterday afternoon, but it was solid steel and locked from the outside. There wasn't even a knob on his side. Even the hinges were on the other side.

Maybe if he stood with his back against the wall next to the door when they came in he could… No. He'd just end up shot. He wasn't good enough at fighting to do that. Or he could just spend the rest of his life in here… He remembered reading about the ocean. Maybe it was worth a chance. He couldn't think of anything else. His lunch was supposed to come any minute now. He pressed his back against the wall next to the door.

* * *

It had taken five warriors to get Mikasa into The Dungeon. By the time they got there, three out of the five were out cold on the floor. When they brought the first tray of water and a peanut butter sandwich, Mikasa had run at the door. Shots rang out, and she was forced to cover her head with her hands and roll sideways.

She knew she would have to try something more creative if she wanted to get out. She didn't know when or how often she would get fed, but she knew it had to happen at least once a day with the amount they were giving her, assuming they wanted her to live. But if they wanted her to die, they would have just killed her immediately. She was going to have to think of something.

* * *

"Eren doesn't even like me," Jean pleaded all the way to The Dungeon. "I don't even like him. I don't have anything to do with this." Of course they didn't believe him. Jean tried kicking the male guard holding him in the groin, but the man turned sideways, twisting Jean's arm in the process. He tried to overpower the female guard on his other side by twisting his arm out of her hands, but she gave him a patronizing look and tightened her grip. The guard behind him, pointing a gun at his back, was too far away to try anything on, but he couldn't help glancing back to see if he was gone. They locked him in The Dungeon and walked away.

Locked in the dark, he wondered, what would Armin do?

* * *

Connie struggled at the arms dragging him to The Dungeon, but they were too strong. He was thrown in the door and left to sleep.

* * *

Sasha tried to stomp on the foot of the person on her right. The person moved their foot just in time to avoid her. They threw her in The Dungeon. All night, she lay on the cold floor wondering if they were going to feed her, and how she was going to get out.

* * *

Historia was thrown in The Dungeon for one night before Ymir got her out. Ymir had stolen the key, and they ran out of Fort Senshi to the fourth wall.

* * *

Erwin tensed up when the warrior on his right wrapped her arm around his waist because he didn't have a right arm. He leaned over quickly, in an attempt to throw her off, but to no avail. There really was nothing he could do with only had one arm.

In the morning, he examined the door. It was made of the same metal his swords were, steel, and had no knobs or hinges on his side of it. He knocked on it and listened to see how thick it was, then kicked it as hard as he could. It sprang back to shape, throwing him on his back on the floor. There had to be a better way out of here.

* * *

Hanji spent the way to The Dungeon grilling her guards for answers about the titans. They ignored her.

In the morning, she was given her water and her peanut butter sandwich. She ate the food and drank the water, and stomped through the plastic tray they were served on. She picked up the biggest flat shard and held on to it. When they came back to give her her next meal, she slid the plastic in the side of the door by the hinges, preventing it from shutting properly. She ate her sandwich and drank her water, and then kicked the door down.

* * *

Like Mikasa, it took five warriors to get Levi in The Dungeon, and this was after they tied his hands behind his back. Eventually, they managed to get him in.

The shoved him through the door, and as he stumbled, he looked up to see a familiar face above him.

"And if it isn't my little chibi rat," said Kenny Ackerman.

As the door slammed behind him, Levi glared at his former captain. The man who had trained him to be the ruthless killer he was.


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter 30

Armin's back was to the wall when the door opened. A pair of rifles poked through the opening. He grabbed the nearest one and twisted downwards, closer to his body where he had more leverage. The guard let go of the gun, unable to hold on to it with his hands upside-down at an awkward angle. Armin swung it around and shot the other man's exposed wrist, forcing him to drop his gun as well. The shot echoed, louder than usual, through The Dungeon. Armin picked up the second gun and looped the strap over his shoulder. He readied another bullet on the first gun and stepped out from behind the wall to point it at the three people standing in the doorway.

"While I may not be the strongest soldier in the Survey Corps, I know how to use a gun. It would be wise of you to get out of the way before I find a way to prove it to you," said Armin, looking down the barrel of the gun.

They backed down the hallway, hands in the air. Armin advanced slowly, not wanting them to get too close and take the gun. Soon, he was out of The Dungeon. He looked around. The walls were similar to the walls that were in The Dungeon, but they were lined with heavily bolted steel doors. He knew his friends were probably behind some of those doors, although there were so many he didn't know which doors were the right ones.

He needed to work on his plan. He could try to get out, and hopefully not get recaptured, or he could try to rescue his friends. He didn't know which doors they were in, or how to open them. He would have to hide where he couldn't be found. Somewhere he could see who was in the different rooms.

If he didn't run into Bertholdt, Reiner, or Ymir, he could disguise himself as one of the warriors and bring food to the prisoners. That would be an easy way to find out where his friends were, as well as getting access to the keys. He would just have to work out his disguise.

* * *

Hanji kicked the door down. It swung out into the hallway, slamming into the wall. It was no use trying to be quiet now. Hanji made a split-second decision to run left. Maybe she could find some titan shifters somewhere in that direction. There were still some things that didn't make sense, like how did the titans create so much damage if they were really just people? Why did they think they had to eat a titan shifter in order to become a titan shifter? Why did everyone see titans if they were all different people?

She knew should have to be careful, or she would be put back in The Dungeon, but she was so close to answers that there was no going back. She continued down the hall.

* * *

"Kenny Ackerman," said Levi, spitting the words out like they tasted bad.

"Little Levi," said Kenny Ackerman in way of greeting.

"Why are you here, anyway?"asked Levi.

"I came here to make a deal," said Kenny Ackerman, picking at his fingernails.

"I'm not making another fucking deal with you," spat Levi.

"That's a shame. You're not even going to hear me out."

"How about I see you out instead, asswipe."

"I was going to offer you your freedom, but if you want me to go free instead…"

"Get your twisted deals out of my face," Levi spat in his direction.

"Enjoy your stay. The bed is over there," he pointed. "Oh, and I forgot to mention. There is no toilet. You'll just have to go wherever."

Levi tried to hide his disgust. "You expect me to survive in this cesspool?"

"Well, you turned down my deal."


	31. Chapter 31

Chapter 31

"What do you want from me?" asked Levi. He really didn't want to make any kind of deal with his former instructor, but he also didn't want to be forced to sit in his own shit.

"If you convince Eren Jaeger to kill all the world leaders, we will let you go. Until then… you'll just have to hold it," explained Kenny Ackerman.

Levi tried to keep his face impassive, but a little fear and disgust crept into his expression. How was he supposed to live in a stinking pool of shit? And did Kenny Ackerman actually expect him to believe that he would be free if he made Eren go along with whatever they were planning? He knew him well enough to know that he would never set a prisoner free if that prisoner still had some purpose, and if he didn't have a purpose anymore, he would be dead.

"I know you well enough to know that you won't let me go even if I tell Eren to kill those people," said Levi.

"I've changed, just like you have. I'm a better person than you knew in training. Being with the Military Police showed me what friends are; I've thought about this a lot, and you're the closest friend I have."

"We were never _friends_ and we never will be," Levi couldn't believe the man who had taunted him for holding his swords wrong instead of helping the other people who actually needed help was calling him his friend.

"Just wait here. Soon, you'll be begging for me to go back on that deal."

Levi knew he was right, but he didn't say anything. He didn't want to give up that easily.

* * *

Hanji ran down the hall. Over her breathing and the pounding of her feet, she could hear someone else coming. She sped up.

She made it out of The Dungeon without getting caught, but she could hear the pounding feet behind her getting closer. She ducked into a room to her right. What she needed was an unarmed, alone titan shifter to question. The person behind her, judging by their gate, was carrying some kind of weapon – probably a rifle. She needed to get away before she could find any answers.

There was a window at the back of the room. She picked up a paperweight from the desk by the door, and threw it through the window as hard as she could. The window smashed, glass flying outside and falling to the ground. Before she could get to the window, hands grabbed her arms and pulled her backwards.

* * *

Armin had found a shower and washed the prison smell out of his hair, and now he was looking for some women's clothes in his size. He had found someone's barracks, and dug through drawers full of shirts, pants, and socks. He changed out of his button-down shirt and uniform pants and put on the brown pants in the drawer that looked like the ones he had seen most of the warriors wearing. He found a somewhat small bra (he didn't want it to look too obvious that he didn't need to wear one, but at the same time he wanted it to be visible), and put on a shirt that looked like it was the right one. He checked himself out in the mirror on the back of the door. He still looked too much like himself. He pulled all the hair he could to the back of his head and looked at his reflection thoughtfully. This could work. He found a piece of twine and tied it in a ponytail. He could probably pass for a girl now.

"Mina Carolina," he tried the name of one of the people who had fallen in Trost. Someone who had been in the 104th with him. He would have to try to get used to answering to Mina. He hadn't really known Mina, even though they both spent a lot of time with Annie. It hadn't even been that long ago, but it felt like a lifetime. He should have talked to her more.

"Did anyone give you anything to do?" asked someone passing. They wore the same uniform as Armin, but they had a medallion, so he guessed they outranked him.

"I – no," he confessed.

"What division are you?"

"I don't – I'm new. Where should I be?" he asked.

"Prison guards. Did you finish delivering their lunch?"

"Yes commander," his arms tried to salute the way he had learned in training, but he forced his right hand to hit his forehead like a visor the way he'd seen the other warriors doing.

"Then why don't you get your own lunch with the others."

"Uh… which way is it?"

The warrior he was talking to pointed down a hall to Armin's left. "Why do you have two guns?"

Armin started down the hall and stopped. "We were… feeding one of the new prisoners and the other person holding the gun had to use the bathroom, but then I got lost. I should probably give this back now."

"You'd better return it as soon as you see them."

"Yes, commander," he continued down the hall, congratulating himself on his luck that he'd met someone who liked him almost as much as Dot Pixis in his first few minutes fighting against humanity.


	32. Chapter 32

Chapter 32

Two days later, when Eren had recovered from his concussion, he was handcuffed and led down a stone hallway lined with metal doors. He looked around, trying to figure out what kind of a place this was.

Grisha Jaeger stopped suddenly, causing Eren to bump into him. He turned, and opened a heavily locked door. Behind it was a small empty room that looked and smelled like it had recently held a person.

"Who was in here?" asked Eren.

"Your friend Armin," answered his father.

"What happened to him?" asked Eren.

"I don't know. He was reported being here this morning."

Had he escaped? Eren couldn't think of a possible way for that to have happened, even if Armin was the best strategist he knew. It was probably more likely that someone had killed him or something. There was even blood by the door.

"Who killed him?" asked Eren.

"Nobody killed him. He probably cut himself and they had to take him to the infirmary to fix it up," Grisha Jaeger put an uncomfortable hand on his son's shoulder.

"How do I know you're not lying? How do I know you didn't order this to happen as the first part of convincing me that I need to help you?"

"It's not. I would tell you if that were starting. We're starting with Erwin, anyway."

Grisha Jaeger pulled Eren over to the next door and opened it.

"Eren!" it was Mikasa. She jumped up and ran a couple steps over to him before Grisha Jaeger pulled out a revolver from his pocket and pressed it against Eren's head.

"You see Eren? Your other friend is safe. I'm sure Armin is alright."

"What happened to Armin?" demanded Mikasa.

"He's not in his cell," answered Eren as his father jammed the gun harder into his skull.

"Eren. Be careful," said Mikasa, looking at the gun against his head.

"Don't worry. He's not going to shoot me; I'm his precious test subject," said Eren. He heard a bullet click into place next to his ear.

"I wouldn't be too sure…" Mikasa looked from Eren to the gun to Grisha Jaeger and back again.

"Mikasa…" said Eren.

Mikasa took a step forward. Grisha Jaeger's finger tightened on the trigger. Mikasa stopped.

"Mikasa, just do it!"

Mikasa ran at Grisha Jaeger and tackled him, dragging Eren down, too. She wrestled the gun out of his hand and shot the chain in Eren's handcuffs.

"Come on," she started down the hall.

"Don't you think we should get the others out?" asked Eren.

"I thought you had a plan. You do, don't you?"

"No. I saw an opportunity for you to get out, so I took it."

"Are we going to try to get out, or –" she was interrupted by Grisha Jaeger calling for reinforcements from the floor.

Running footsteps were coming from both directions down the hall. From one direction, Bertholdt was running their way, and from the other a blonde girl, no, Armin was coming.

Mikasa turned the gun to point at Grisha Jaeger, pretending not to recognize Armin. Maybe Bertholdt wouldn't either. But Eren saw recognition dawning in his eyes.

Eren and Mikasa leapt over Grisha Jaeger, who was still on the floor, and ran in Armin's direction. Mikasa fired a couple of shots behind them, but Eren didn't look to see if she hit her target.

* * *

Outside the fourth wall, Ymir and Historia walked down an empty street.

"We need to go back and help the others," said Historia.

"We can't. We'll get caught if we go back," said Ymir, really just trying to convince Historia to stay somewhere safe.

"Ymir, I don't need you to protect me this much. I can take care of myself."

Historia had obviously seen right through her plans. Ymir's cheeks heated up.

"If we convince people that there is an inhumane experiment going on behind the walls, maybe we can save them from in here," said Ymir in a final effort to get Historia to stay in safety.

"Who should we talk to? Who's going to believe us? Eren said they talked to three boys who were fans of the manga and the anime. He said they found them right after they broke down the fourth wall."

"We could talk to a newspaper," said Ymir. "Armin said Isayama Hajime said he talked to a newspaper, but he could have been lying. He probably was. He lied about not working with Grisha Jaeger."


	33. Chapter 33

Chapter 33

"I have a story for you," said Ymir to the person at the desk.

"Name and phone number?" said the receptionist without looking up.

"Historia Reiss, and we don't have a phone," said Historia.

"What kind of people don't have a phone?" said the receptionist, probably louder than he intended.

"It's part of our story," promised Historia.

The receptionist muttered something about environmentalists and said "You're on the wait list. Since you don't have a phone, you'll have to stay in the area until we call you. You should have about an hour wait."

"Thank you," said Historia.

Almost exactly an hour later, a different receptionist called "Historia Reiss?" and looked around the room.

"Here," called Ymir.

"Go down the hall and it should be the third door on the left."

"Thanks," said Historia.

Historia and Ymir walked down the hall and knocked on the third door on the left. A woman with too much makeup opened it and smiled. She held out her hand to each of them and they shook it. They followed her into the room.

She gestured for them to take a seat in two chairs facing the desk. She sat in one behind it.

"So what is your story?" she asked, pulling out a pen and a pad of paper.

"Well, you know the manga by Isayama Hajime?" asked Ymir.

"No. I don't have time to read children's stories," said their reporter.

"You know the wall about a mile away?" tried Historia.

"Yes…"

"Do you know what's behind it?" asked Ymir.

"No."

"It's… It's difficult to explain, but we'll do our best," said Historia.

Together they told her all they knew about the fourth wall, Grisha Jaeger, and Isayama Hajime.

"That's… very interesting… Do you have any proof of this?" she asked.

"Yes. We can show you what it's like behind the wall," said Ymir.

"How are we going to get her over?" asked Historia.

"We can carry her."

"Nobody's carrying me anywhere," said the reporter.

"Isayama Hajime said there were cameras of inside the walls…" said Historia.

"If we could get them, we could show the videos of everything to anyone who wanted to watch them," finished Ymir.

"That was a very… interesting story. You sound like you're telling the truth, but I don't think my editor will publish my story if there isn't any proof. Here's my business card. You can call or email me when you find some evidence," the reporter handed the business card to Historia.

"Neither of us has a phone or an email, but we'll try to contact you as soon as we find something," said Historia.

They saluted, one fist on their hearts, one fist behind their backs, and left.

Ymir led Historia to a small, insignificant house. She knocked on the door.

Footsteps inside. A man opened the door and peered out at them. Ymir punched him in the nose, sending him backwards with blood dripping down the lower part of his face.

"What was that for?" he asked around a broken nose.

"Your messed-up experiment," said Ymir.

"You didn't have to do that, Ymir," said Historia. "He was more likely to show us where the videos are if we were nice to him."

"Oh, well, I guess we'll just have to hit him a few more times."

"Ymir…"

"What? We won't do any permanent damage."

"Please don't hurt me," squeaked Isayama Hajime from the floor.

"Since you said please…" said Ymir. "We'll give you a chance to find the videos before we do any more damage."

"They're on the computer," he said.

"Go find it," Ymir instructed Historia.

"I don't know what a computer looks like!"

"Watch him," she ordered.

Ymir walked down the hall, peering into rooms until she found one that had a computer. She turned it on and found folders labeled "Wall Maria," "Wall Rose," and "Wall Shina." She opened up the "Wall Maria" folder and found one for the day the titans got into Siganshina. There was Bertholdt. And Reiner. Hey, Eren, Mikasa, and Armin were there too. Of course they were there. If they hadn't, she probably wouldn't be here now.

"Historia, do you still have that business card?" called Ymir.

"Yeah. Do you need it?"

"I'll come get them. Don't leave that coward to bring it over here." Ymir walked back down the hall to get the business card from Historia. Isayama Hajime was propped against the wall pinching his nose.

"I told you to watch him, not give him first aid," said Ymir.

"He helped us, so now I'm helping him," explained Historia.

"You do realize that it was him that made us grow up behind those walls surrounded by titans and people who just didn't give a shit about us?"

"Yes, but that's the reason why you hit him in the first place."

"Just give me the business card," said Ymir, exasperated.

She opened Isayama Hajime's email, started a new one, typed in the reporter's email address, and attached several videos of titans eating people. She sent it, and took Historia out the door, kicking Isayama Hajime on the way out.

* * *

That night, as they sat at a booth in a fast-food chain watching the news on a TV in the corner, they saw their reporter talking. They started reading the subtitles. She summarized their story, and showed a clip of one of the videos Ymir had sent. She finished by asking whether it was a hoax or not.

"Why would they think it's a hoax?" Ymir wondered.

"They don't have anything like titans on this side of the wall. They'll probably investigate it, then find out that it's real, then finally do something about it. Just wait a couple days," said Historia.

Two days later, they saw a helicopter going over the wall. It stayed there for a few minutes before it came out at full throttle. That night, they heard reports of people turning into giants and trying to eat other people behind the wall. They had done it.


	34. Chapter 34

Chapter 34

Eren, Mikasa, and Armin had been pretending to be Warriors for nearly a week. Bertholdt hadn't told anyone about them, and they hadn't heard from Grisha Jaeger at all. Maybe Bertholdt was on their side after all. Maybe he had wiped his memory, or maybe Mikasa had shot them. Eren still hadn't asked.

Eren wasn't thinking about either of them the morning he woke up to an interesting smell – like mustard, garlic, and onions. Curious as to what was for breakfast; he got out of bed earlier than he needed to, and peeked into the kitchen. The cooks were making the usual gruel, which smelled like glue. Confused, he went back to the barracks where Armin and Mikasa were still sleeping, and woke them up.

Armin rolled over, and opened one eye when he smelled whatever wasn't cooking.

"What's for breakfast?" he slurred out.

Eren shrugged and moved on to Mikasa.

"Eren, why are you waking us up?" she asked.

"Do you smell that? Whatever it is, it's not coming from the kitchen."

"I don't know. Maybe one of the officers is making something," said Mikasa, yawning and turning to face the wall.

Armin sniffed the air curiously. "Is it me, or is it getting stronger?"

Eren sniffed too. It was definitely getting stronger.

A yellowish-brown vapor seeped under the door.

"Shit," said Armin.

"What?" asked Eren.

"Mustard gas. We have to go. Mikasa, get up!" Armin leapt out of his bed and dragged the half-sleeping Mikasa out by her arms.

Mikasa picked herself up off the floor, and the three of them crept out the door with their shirts over their mouths and noses. Their eyes stung. They couldn't see anything. Eren thought he heard a thump, then another. He reached out for his friends, but they weren't there. He turned back for them, but before he could find them, he knew no more.

* * *

Nearly a week prior, the Japanese military sent a helicopter in with soldiers to find out if this story about walls and titans was really true. They had sent two men down to the ground to figure out what kind of place this was, only for one of them to turn into a titan, and the other to get eaten. Seeing this, the other soldiers turned tail and fled. After telling the story to the people above them, the Japanese military decided to gas the whole enclosure to prevent any civilian deaths. They pumped gallons of mustard gas into the walls via several different points along the fourth wall.

It took nearly a week for the gas to get into Fort Senshi, and only then when someone accidentally left the door open. Everyone inside died soon after.

* * *

Eren Jaeger had grown up hopping from foster home to foster home since his parents' tragic accident six years ago. He hadn't seen his friends Armin and Mikasa in years, although he talked to them online frequently. Sometimes, he would also talk to his friends Jean, Sasha, and Connie, friends he had met at the orphanage between foster homes, but Jean could be annoying and Sasha and Connie were always flirting.

His current foster father was a war veteran, and a single man. Eren thought it was a wonder the foster home had approved the adoption, although it was probably because his house was spotless. His foster father was shorter than Eren, with black hair and bad manners, but Eren thought he was one of his better guardians all the same. His name was Levi Ackerman.

It was the second of October when two girls knocked on Eren and Levi's door. One of them was tall with a dark complexion, and the other was small and blonde. Eren opened the door.

"Hello…?" he asked.

"Hi, Eren. It's me, Historia," said the small blonde one.

"Who? Eren was confused. He didn't know a Historia. He'd never even heard that name before.

"You don't remember us?" asked the girl Historia.

"Eren, we need you to remember."

Remember what? His parents dying? He remembered that all too clearly. The ten different foster homes in six years? He remembered that too.

"I remember it clearly. My life sucks."

* * *

THE END

* * *

_I'm really sorry if you expected a happy ending, but I'm trying to make a prediction/AU and if nobody died it just wouldn't make sense with the official story._

_First off, I do not own SnK, as it belongs to Isayama Hajime. Presumably, he's a nicer person than I made out in this story, but I've never met him.  
_

_Secondly, the only characters I made up were minor characters at fort Senshi (also my invention, as well as the Toridasu District because Siganshina was the only named district in Wall Maria in the series) and Tatsuya, Rin, and Daiki. And of course all the unnamed characters are arguably mine as well._

_Thirdly, I plan on making a few alterations (there are a few places that I used the wrong name for, and my writing could always get better)._

_If you have any questions, comments, or things that you want to say about the story (constructive criticism?), feel free to leave a review or send me a message._

_Finally, I plan on starting a SnK/Harry Potter AU sometime soon, so if you liked my writing, you should check it out! As of right now, it's lighter than this story, but that's how most of my stories start out._

_Thanks for reading! I hope you liked it!_

_Bigger-on-the-inside-fandoms_


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